Paris, France – Paris, a city historically known for its café culture since at least 1686 when a Sicilian chef, Procopio Cutò, opened up what is regarded as the oldest café in Paris in continuous operation in Paris and still going strong as are the city’s hundreds of other cafés, famous and not so famous. But at least one coffee boutique in town is offering a new way to enjoy coffee in Paris, the Boutique Caron of the Brûlerie Caron coffee roasting house offers workshops in its tasteful upstairs coffee tasting room where participants can enjoy a host of coffee-related sessions. The summer season workshops which kicked off on August 17th and go on through to September 4th are limited to four to six people, depending upon the health situation. And if you can’t be in Paris right now, you can reserve workshops for up to six people at anytime throughout the year, just plan in advance. An English translation is provided.

On Tuesday afternoons the workshops are devoted to an up-close look at coffees and how they are cultivated in different regions of the world. Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil and Ethiopia were all on the agenda as the expert coffee maker, the barista, explained the different growing methods and the techniques for making coffee, (filters, drip, French press and so forth). Each coffee is tasted black, very black. On Wednesday afternoon sessions participants are invited to create their own iced coffee with fun ingredients like caramel syrup and exotic juices and fresh mint provided for the experience. The Gourmet Gazette found it was better to limit the number of ingredients in the coffee and opted for a becoming blend of the coffee, caramel syrup and vanilla syrup. Thursday afternoons involved one of the more popular events, coffee and chocolate pairings with the chocolate coming from the French specialty gourmet chocolate maker Edwart.

Friday afternoon sessions are devoted to latte art in which participants learn how to draw on their cappuccino and then can print out a picture of their creation. And meanwhile on Saturday sessions, you can make coffee ice-cream and serve it with a nitro coffee, coffee to which nitrogen has been added and which enhances its flavor and aroma. The summer session closes with the traditional Caron brunch held on September 4th.

Anne Caron was named the best coffee roaster in France in 2017 and she has recently brought out her first book CaféGraphie, a geographical guide (in French) to everything coffee from beans, to roasts to plantations and harvests, published by Hachette in September of last year. The book takes a look at the history of the globally consumed beverage and offers an insight into a little known aspect of coffee growing: it remains an industry rooted in craft know how. The book also explores the profession and role of the coffee roaster in the world of coffee. The Brûlerie Caron was founded in 1974 by Sylvain Caron and today Anne perpetuates a family tradition of over 40 years and the house remains a leader in specialty coffee. The house rigorously selects its beans from plantations in Guatemala, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Brazil which give the Blend Caron its exceptional quality.
©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette
Brûlerie Caron
32 rue Notre Dame de Nazareth 3rd, + 33 (0) 1 40 09 23 17
http://www.cafecaron.com